What Every VA Needs to Know About Facebook Ads

Lessons from a Digital Marketing Virtual Assistant who actually does the work:

One thing that I’ve learned after years of working in digital media is that sometimes the simplest things are the most important. Those little tricks that will save you from hours of headaches, errors, and mistakes. So today, I’m going to share a few of those big but simple things you should know about Facebook ads as a VA.

Why Facebook Ads?

They’re huge right now. I’m referring so many job leads to my Unicorn Digital Marketing Assistant School graduates from clients who need help with FB ads. And that’s not going to change anytime soon. Online advertising and digital marketing are booming, and Facebook is a big part of that.

The Must-Know Facebook Ad Tip You Need to Know

Want to know one of my biggest examples of a small detail that can really mess you up if you haven’t figured it out?

If you are creating an ad from a post, you can’t edit your ad if it was a post once it’s gone live. Even a FB Live.

(Now if it’s a new ad created inside the Ads Manager, that’s a different story. But every time you edit and re-publish, the algorithm will set you back.)

Crazy, right? So if you spot a typo or want to fix your spacing, too bad. Maybe you need to update your link? Not going to happen.

It’s crucial that you put thought into the call to action, add video caption and tags, and the content BEFORE you hit publish.

It’s especially critical for list-building and engagement ads because they’re usually tested, organic posts that have done well and are turned into ads.

This is ONE workaround to fix it if you absolutely need to make adjustments. You can cancel the ad, lose your progress, and start it over from the beginning once you’ve updated it.

Or sometimes you can go into your backend Facebook Ads Manager and monkey around with some other hacks. Maybe you’ll try to reassign the ad to a different post, fix the first, and reset.

But no matter what, it’s not fast and easy. It’s going to take a lot of time and monkey work. It’s going to be a headache. And you’ve got better things to do for your client.

So make sure you triple-proofread your clients’ work before you publish the ad. Look at all the small details and make sure they’re correct, and look at the big picture to make sure it all looks good and well-branded. Save yourself from a huge headache with just a little work ahead of time.

Facebook ads for Virtual Assistants

Here are a few services you can offer as a digital marketing freelancer or virtual assistant. Some of this requires access to Business Manager. I have gotten so much working helping clients by doing this:

1. Install the FB Pixel
2. Set up Standard Events & Custom Conversion Events
3. Verify the domain (requires access to website domain host and DNS records) (Part of the IOS changes)
4. Set (rank) the aggregated events (Part of the IOS changes)
5. Write FB Ad Copy
6. Design FB Ad Graphics (Bonus points for designing and resizing for IG & FB stories)
7. Optimize landing page (Hint: make sure the ad copy & promise matches the landing page or people will NOT convert)
8. Make sure there is a thank you page and a successful sign-up confirmation page (Best way to track conversions!)
9. Make sure leads are getting emails inside your clients’ email service provider
10. Use Google tracking links to test the effectiveness of your leads

⚡️Must-Have Tech Helper: FB Pixel Helper

Download this Chrome extension and you’ll be able to test your clients’ FB pixels and make sure they work and see what data they’re tracking.

⚡️Related Podcast: Digital Marketer explains why you should learn FB Ads

More FB Ad Tips From A VA Who is Doing the Work

If you’re already in my Facebook group for working and wanna-be VAs and digital marketing assistants, you might have already caught the Facebook live I did with Samantha Semans.

She started off as a unicorn VA and then quickly ramped up her business when she started focusing on social media. Facebook ads are a huge part of her VA business and she’s growing every month.

Some of what we talked about with Facebook ads are things you’re definitely going to want to know as a VA.

Honesty

First and foremost, be honest. Don’t claim to be an expert on FB ads if you’re brand new. You’re handling your clients’ money, and that’s a big responsibility.

And you don’t need to fill in all of the details every day, but give them honest feedback about how things are going on a regular basis. Let them know if something doesn’t work out as planned and you’re going to pull an ad campaign and go a different direction.

Facebook ads can be fickle and you aren’t going to be perfect. Cut your losses, adjust your strategy, and move forward. But keep your client in the loop.

Know Your Client And Their Audience

This one should be obvious, but so many people get it wrong. Whether your client is brand new to social media or you’re taking over a thriving account, make sure you get familiar with your client and their products, their brand, their voice, and their avatar.

You might even have to take a few steps backward to really adjust an existing Facebook account to better align with their goals.

There’s no “one-size-fits-most” strategy for Facebook ads. Definitely keep your eye out for best practices and pay attention to what others are doing right (and wrong). But don’t forget to put your client and their unique brand at the front of everything.

Help Your Clients with the New Realities of Digital Marketing

For years and years, businesses just paid a flat fee to publish print ads in their local newspapers. And that looks a lot different than advertising in the new world of digital media.

In print, you pay a big sum, send your ad out in the world, and hope for the best. But digital media is a lot more interactive. You keep a finger constantly on the pulse of the ads and tweak your strategy all the time.

It takes a lot more trust and a lot more communication. So make sure your clients understand how your relationship needs to work, and how you need to communicate. Because ultimately, you’re making their money work harder for them. And you’re making yourself an indispensable part of the team.

And things are always changing in the digital marketing space. Take all the Apple iOS changes that are affecting ads, tracking and email open rate data collection.

Clients need your help!

Benefits of Working in a Niche

Being a unicorn VA is a great foundation. But if you later decide to niche down, it lets you hyperfocus your expertise on something you love, like social media and Facebook. And then you can develop those higher-level skills in that niche. Which means you can end up with higher-end (and higher-paying) tasks for your client.

Like Samantha said in our video, the riches are in the niches. She gets lots of leads now that she has niched down from a unicorn VA to the area she loves the most – social media and Facebook ads. People know her as the social media and Facebook ads guru and she ends up on the radar of a lot of potential new clients.

That doesn’t mean you can skip the foundation, though. If you don’t start out knowing a little bit of everything as a unicorn VA, you won’t know the big picture. And you’ll struggle to build success for your clients.

Or maybe you do like working as a unicorn and doing all the things. I know I like to have some variety in my work and I always like to dive into new areas. And I like the challenge of trying a new platform or a new type of marketing concept. Plus I get bored if I focus on one thing for too long, and that means my work output can struggle.

But for those of you who are interested in the opportunity to niche down into something like a social media manager or FB ads expert like Samantha, the opportunities can be huge.

Another benefit of nicheing down? You can focus your development and training on those areas once you’ve established your foundation. Invest in more courses in that niche. Follow leaders in that field, like Rick Mulready, who is a go-to person for Facebook ad development. Slowly become the go-to guru in that niche for your own business network and you will bank the benefits.

Not a course. A collective for marketers already doing the work.

Our Digital Marketer’s Workgroup is a vetted peer community where marketing specialists get real business support and talk shop with people who actually get it. Applications are open now ⬇️

The Takeaway: Start small with Facebook ads and it might become your new niche…

You’re never going to learn every single thing you need to know about Facebook ads. The algorithm and strategies change too often and it will always keep you on your toes. But focus on starting with a solid unicorn foundation. Then use these tips you need to know to grow your Facebook ads experience as a VA.

It might be the biggest thing you’ll do for your business, or it might be just a small part of an overall package you offer to clients. But either way, you’ll be one step ahead of the game.

Want to learn more? Make sure you’re an insider member of my Facebook group and then watch my video with Samantha! Trust me – there is a lot of good info tucked into this one, including how Samantha finds so many new clients that want to hire her!

And here’s how you build that foundation…

One of the biggest things that Samantha credited for building her success was that she signed up for a VA course. She went from a healthcare worker on maternity leave to a successful digital media entrepreneur who was paying bills for her family, all because she was a go-getter who took a leap and signed up for an online course.

Build that foundation of skills, and get ready to grow!

-Emily, Digital Marketing Consultant and Implementer

@emilyreaganpr

“I help smart women learn the in-demand digital marketing strategies and profitable tech skills to get hired as a unicorn digital marketing assistant.“

3 Ways we can work together

1. Do you need to acquire digital marketing implementation skills? Check out the Unicorn Digital Marketing Assistant School. (It opens twice a year so jump on the waitlist)
2. Already doing the work and have clients? But need more clients and a better referral network? Apply for my Digital Marketing Workgroup.
3. Need to hire a Unicorn Digital Marketing Assistant? Submit your job here. I’ll share it with my workgroups for free!

Yes, you really can work online:

Feeling overwhelmed and not sure how you can work from home and build your own online digital media business? Take a deep breath – you can do this. First start here with my list of 10 popular tasks that online businesses need help with the most!

These are the tasks that new clients are constantly asking for help with, and skills that they really need to find in a virtual assistant. Get access to this free download right now. Then make sure your own VA toolkit is up-to-date and relevant, and decide where you might need to invest in new growth and development for your biz.

Ready to take the next step to level up your own VA digital marketing business? Get on the waitlist for my Unicorn Digital Marketing School now! The LIVE version of the course only opens once a year, and the go-getters on my waitlist get the first opportunity for a spot!

Further Reading

Social Media Success: Build That Engagement

When Your Client Ghosts You On Facebook

How I Became a VA

Five Retargeted Facebook Ad Designs